Day 17 - Favourite mini-series

[thessalian]

I ... think I know what this means? But to be fair, there aren't many shows that I've actually seen that fall into this category at all. So leaving aside series that were truncated by default, and discounting Torchwood: Children of Earth entirely because it was a mini-season rather than a mini-series, I'm going for a tiny little barely-known British programme called "Ultraviolet".

Yes, I know, everyone has heard of the film. This is not the film. It involves vampires, to a point, but this is not your special effects-riddled action flick. In fact, you don't see a terrible lot of violence and you almost never see fang. This little six-ep series shows vampires as more of a financial and political force, a group of psychological manipulators who just happen to survive by drinking blood. They're not monstrous because of their diet; in fact, it's the more human parts of their behaviour patterns that make them truly evil. The Ultraviolet I know is a combination of political/law enforcement thriller, sci-fi programme and just a tiny bit of soap opera. We're not talking "vampires seeking redemption and true love" here.

So let's talk about the cast for a moment. First of all, Jack Davenport. I don't think I need to tell anyone who's seen Pirates of the Caribbean (any of the PotC films, really) why this fact is an automatic recommendation. There's also Stephen Moyer, who some of you may recognise as 'Vampire Bill' on True Blood. (Or, because he has changed a lot since 1998, maybe not.) We've also got Idris Elba, who's apparently done a lot of cop shows - including the title role in new series Luther - but whose most recent role that I actually saw was Stone in 28 Weeks Later. We also get Corin Redgrave for awhile, and the rest of the cast, while not quite so well-known, is actually pretty good. (And the 'love interest' I quietly spent the series wishing would die in a fire played a shape-shifting alien in the episode of Torchwood where Gwen finally marries Rhys. Seeing that ep of Torchwood was when I realised that wishing the character in Ultraviolet would die in a fire was actually to do with hating the character rather than bad acting. Which is okay. I don't have to like all the characters. There are allowed to be wastes of space so long as they're actually meant to be wastes of space.)

I grant that this programme is not an easy one to find. It is available on DVD (which means that it's probably available for torrent somewhere) but since I got my copy years ago from some 3-for-£10 sale at a hole in the wall on Charing Cross Road, I don't know if it's still widely available. I assume these things go out of print after awhile, same as books, and the show is twelve years old. Still, it is definitely worth a watch if ever there's opportunity.

Comments

[halcyon-shift.livejournal.com]

If I hadn't seen Band of Brothers, Ultraviolet and Neverwhere would have been mini-series-ing off when I answered this question. *draws many hearts around everyone in both*

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

I thought about Neverwhere, but I'll admit that I did not see the entire thing. Not entirely my fault either - I had a rip of the show but only got to watch the first couple of episodes before a nasty nasty computer problem obliged me to reformat my hard drive. I did not have a backup of my Neverwhere rip, and so it was lost. Woe.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Someone (queenofthorns, maybe?) recommended this years ago, and I think I boought it, but I never got around to watching it. Still, that means it must be around here somewhere. ::ponders::

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

I look forward to the results of the excavation. *glee*

[i-thessaly.livejournal.com]

I thought I was the only one who had ever watched this show. I've had the DVDs for years, bought it secondhand from a shop here in Canberra!

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

...OMG gods bless the swooping_is_bad friending meme. Not only with the Thessaly and the Being Human but the Ultraviolet as well. <3

Also, much love for second-hand CD/DVD shops. Ironically, while you were finding a British TV miniseries in a Canberra second-hand shop, my last great second-hand shop find was a Something for Kate album. The UK requires more Australian music.